Award of 29th TT Chess Composition Microweb C 7.7.2011

I received from Juraj Lörinc 53 anonymized entries. Their quality was average - I found quite a lot of candidates for commendations, but only a small number of problems where I was at once sure about higher distinction. One of the problems was found as cooked, so 52 left for judging.

Before the award itself I would like to write here some my general thoughts and remarks to some of not awarded problems.

Twins by moving of black King bring in some cases black force used only in one solution, usually for blocking purposes. It is surely some flaw, but I was not absolutely strict considering it. This situation is similar as in helpmates (where different judges have various opinions about it), but in serieshelpmates there is one more danger, namely in problems with long walk of black King - sometimes such problems can be rearranged in more preferable form of two solutions. I believe that such better versions should be sent in another tourney.

In general, I did not appreciate problems with artificially prolonged solutions (in most cases by long pawn marches or King walk without any other idea). Analogy or another relationship between phases was important for me, so I cannot admire only two solutions of the same length. And full use of white officers is today condition sine qua non for serieshelpmates too.

As I have not WinChloe database, I did not make some systematic anticipation checking. Sometimes I had feeling, that "it must exist already", but I know that often I was wrong with such feeling.

More detailed notes to some of submitted problems:

29-07 (Kf3-Kc4): Zilahi theme, but I would wish block by black Bishop in B and analogy in black manoeuvres is not ideal.

29-10 (Ke8-Kh6) Two echo mates in tanagra, but use of (2,5)leaper has no specific fairy motivation in my point of view.

29-13 (Kg1-Kc7) Position is partly symmetric, but it disturbs me only a little. The main flaw is use of Circe Rex Inclusiv, because Black has to capture once on g1 and white officers there would spoil the economy.

29-14 (Kg7-Ka4) Model mates with functions exchange of white Bishops and their circe rebirth, but the play is quite simple.

29-15 (Kc4-Kf5) Echoed mates and in great part play too. Use of fairy conditions is adequate for the content, but I believe that different first moves could be achieved.

29-17 (/-Kg5) It looks like experiment, which finally resulted in 29-45 (3rd Commendation).

29-18 (Ke7-Kb1) Three black minor promotions, but very heavy construction.

29-20 (Kh1-Kf5) Two neutral minor promotions with model mates. For distinction (and maybe quite high) I would like to see second promotion of black pawn too.

29-23 (Ke3-Kd1) Three times switchback of black grasshopper, but creating of cages for black King is rather monotonous.

29-26 (Kg6-Ka4) Simple Allumwandlung. As I have not WinChloe, I had to find for comparison my pupil´s problem 266 Suomen Tehtäväniekat 6/1992, Kg8, Sc6, Se2, pf3, pg5 - Ke6, pd6, pf4, ph2, ser-h#8, b) Ke6->a4. Surely it is anticipated too.

29-28 (Ka1-Kc8) This problem contains the same simple Allumwandlung, only for blocks are used Anticirce rebirths. This is in my point of view not very sufficient use of fairy condition.

29-29 (Kd1-Kb1) And once again AUW, this time in Andernach chess and even without model mates.

29-40 (Kf4-Kg6) Some (although not perfect) analogy in interference of a line of black Bishop, but tries are not homogenous. Cages for black King are here a little bit disturbing, too.

29-43 (Kb6-Ka1) Zilahi with two promotions in grasshopper, but the play is really simple.

29-48 (/-Kb2) Chains with (necessarily) repeated captures of one of white units are too similar for my taste.

29-52 (Kg4-Ka5) Three times places´ exchange of three black units, but in fact three distinct problems on one board. Black economy is too disturbing for me here.

My ranking is as follows:

...

1. 4. 2012
Michal Dragoun

Dieter Müller Franz Pachl 1st Prize 29th TT Chess Composition Microweb C 7.7.2011	a) 1.Qe2 2.Qxg4(Qd8) 3.Bd5 4.Bh1 5.Ke6 6.Qd7 Kxh1(Ke1)# b) 1.Qc2 2.Qxg6(Qd8) 3.Bc4 4.Bf1 5.Ke6 6.Qd6 Kxf1(Ke1)# Perfect analogy with thematic twinning from one pinline into another one. Good and rich Anticirce play contains unpinning, block of white Circe square, King´s move and block by transferred black Queen, capture by white King in mating move fires Anticirce battery and completes Zilahi theme. Some partly similar schemes with such functions exchange realised S. Trommler (and I would even bet some small sum for his authorship of this problem), but this is original enough.

ser-h#6 (6+5) Anticirce b) d7 -» d6

Bojan Basic 2nd Prize 29th TT Chess Composition Microweb C 7.7.2011	a) 1.Kb3 2.Kb3xb2-c7(wSWg8) 3.Kc7xb8-e8(wGg5) 4.Ke8xd8-h7(wMf5) SWf6# b) 1.Kg6-g7 2.Kg7xh8-d7(wEAa5) 3.Kd7xd8-a4(wMb4) 4.Ka4xb4-a6(wMc8) SWc7# Two echo mates with rich and analogous use of both fairy conditions (quite difficult for soundness, I think). After first look, I was not very convinced by four different types of fairy units (even from one, grasshopper family). But each of them is at least once captured and its movement is used in "make" part of black move.

ser-h#4 (4+1) Super Circe, Take & Make grasshopper b8, moose d8 eagle h8, sparrow b2 b) a4 -» g6

Dmitry Turevsky 1st Honourable Mention 29th TT Chess Composition Microweb C 7.7.2011	a) 1.Bf7 2.Bxc4 3.Ke4 4.Bd3 Bc6# b) 1.Rf2 2.Rxc2 3.Ka3 4.Rb2 Ra4# c) 1.Sc5 2.Sxd7 3.Kb5 4.Sb6 Sa3# Cyclic Zilahi with perfect analogy in the play - after first two moves can play black King and block of his initial square follows. Good black economy when three different mating nets are needed, in two of them thematic black officers take part.

ser-h#4 (4+8) b) d3 -» b2 c) d3 -» b6

Raffi Ruppin 2nd Honourable Mention 29th TT Chess Composition Microweb C 7.7.2011	a) 1.g2 2.gxf1S 3.Sxd2 4.Sb3 5.d2 6.d1S 7.Sb2 Sc2# b) 1.f2 2.fxe1B 3.Bxd2 4.Bh6 5.d2 6.d1B 7.Bh5 Bd3# Two pairs of minor promotions corresponding to captured white piece in the other phase and Zilahi theme. Good time and material economy. One of the cases, where I cannot be sure about originality (I know e.g. problem by U. Heinonen, G22 in FIDE Album 1998-2000 with three S and B promotions respectively, but without Zilahi).

ser-h#7 (5+7) b) a3 -» g6

Manfred Rittirsch 1st Commendation 29th TT Chess Composition Microweb C 7.7.2011	a) 1.Qxd6 2.Qd4 3.Kd5 4.Kc5 5.Qc4 Qd6# b) 1.Qxh5 2.Qf3 3.Kg4 4.Kh3 5.Qg2 Qh5# Good analogy in capture of white pawns on mating squares, shielding for moves of black King and block with diagonal-orthogonal analogy and model mates.

ser-h#5 (5+4) b) e4 -» f5

Jaroslav Stun 2nd Commendation 29th TT Chess Composition Microweb C 7.7.2011	a) 1.exd6 2.Ke2(LIe5) 3.dxe5 4.Kf1(LIf4) 5.exf4 6.Kg2(LIg5) 7.f3 8.f2 9.f1nR 10.nRf7 11.nRg7+ LIxg7# b) 1.e5 2.e4 3.e3 4.e2 5.e1nQ 6.nQa1 7.Ke7 8.Kxd6 9.nQc1(LIf6) 10.Ke6 11.nQh6+ LIxh6# Two echoed mates with interesting use of Circe Parrain condition in mate. I consider use of white Lion for diagonal captures by neutral pawn in a) and its straight excelsior in b) as good refreshment.

ser-h#11 (2+1+1) Circe Parrain lion d6, neutral pawn e7 b) d3 -» f8

Jaroslav Stun 3rd Commendation 29th TT Chess Composition Microweb C 7.7.2011	a) 1.Rxg4 2.h4(Bg3) 3.Kf3 4.Kxg3 5.Rxf4(Bf3) Bg4(Gg5)# 1.Kxf4 2.Rg5(Gf3) 3.Kg3 4.Rxg4 5.Kh3(Bh4) Gxh5# b) 1.hxg4 2.Kg5(Bh3) 3.g3 4.Kh4 5.Rg5 Bg4# 1.Kg5 2.hxg4 3.Kh5(Bh4) 4.g3 5.Rg4 Gh2# Four echo antibattery mates (very slightly different because some of them are on the edge of board). Repetition of two black moves in b) is a small flaw.

ser-h#5 (3+3) Circe Parrain, Köko 2+0 grasshopper 2.1.1... b) e4 -» f6

Dieter Müller 4th Commendation 29th TT Chess Composition Microweb C 7.7.2011	a) 1.Sxb4 2.Sa6 (2.Sxd3?) 3.Sxc5 4.Sd7 Rc8# b) 1.Sxc3 2.Sa4 (2.Se4?) 3.Sxc5 4.Se6 Bd6# Opening of white lines is combined with Zilahi theme. As lines of both white thematic pieces are intersected on c5, move Sxc5 is necessarily repeated.

ser-h#4 (7+4) b) d8 -» e5

Harald Grubert 5th Commendation 29th TT Chess Composition Microweb C 7.7.2011	a) 1.Ke7 2.Kd6 3.Kxe5(KAd6) 4.Kf4 5.Kxg4(Bf4) 6.Kf3 7.Kxf4(Bf3) 8.Ke3 9.Kxf3(Be3) 10.Ke2 11.Kxe3(Be2) 12.Kd2 13.Kxe2(Bd2) 14.Kd1 Kd3# b) 1.Kxg4(Bf4) 2.Kf5 3.Kxf4(Bf5) 4.Kxe5(KAf4) 5.Kxf5(Be5) 6.Ke6 7.Kxe5(Be6) 8.Kd6 9.Kxe6(Bd6) 10.Kd7 11.Kc6 12.Kb6 13.Ka5 14.Ka4 Bb4# Echo mates and good use of PWC. Length of this problem is acceptable for human brain. ( At least for mine.)

ser-h#14 (3+1) PWC kangaroo e5 b) f7 -» f4

Raffi Ruppin 6th Commendation 29th TT Chess Composition Microweb C 7.7.2011	a) 1.Kc6 2.Kb5 3.Ka5 4.Kxa4 5.Kb5 6.Kc6 7.Kd5 Ra1# b) 1.Kd1 2.Ke2 3.Ke3 4.Kxf3 5.Ke2 6.Kd1 7.Kc1 Bg2# Opening of the lines for patrol guard with switchback of black King and function exchange between both white officers.

ser-h#7 (8+4) Patrol chess b) d5 -» c1

Harald Grubert 7th Commendation 29th TT Chess Composition Microweb C 7.7.2011	a) 1.Kf7 2.Kxg8(EQf7) 3.Kf8 4.Ke7 5.Kxf7(EQe7) 6.Kf6 7.Kxg6(EQf6) 8.Kf5 9.Ke5 10.Kxf6(EQe5) 11.Ke6 12.Kd6 13.Kxe7(EQd6) 14.Kd7 15.Kc6 16.Kxd6(EQc6) 17.Kxe5(EQd6) 18.Kd5 19.Kc5 20.Kb5 21.Kxc6(EQb5) 22.Kb6 23.Ka5 24.Ka4 25.Kxb5(EQa4) 26.Kc5 27.Kxd6(EQc5) 28.Kc6 29.Kb5 30.Kxa4(EQb5) 31.Ka3 32.Ka2 33.Ka1 Kb3# b) 1.Kg5 2.Kxg6(EQg5) 3.Kf7 4.Kxg8(EQf7) 5.Kg7 6.Kf6 7.Kxf7(EQf6) 8.Ke6 9.Ke5 10.Kxf6(EQe5) 11.Kf5 12.Kf4 13.Kxg5(EQf4) 14.Kg4 15.Kf3 16.Kxf4(EQf3) 17.Kxe5(EQf4) 18.Ke4 19.Ke3 20.Ke2 21.Kxf3(EQe2) 22.Kf2 23.Ke1 24.Kd1 25.Kxe2(EQd1) 26.Ke3 27.Kxf4(EQe3) 28.Kf3 29.Ke2 30.Kxd1(EQe2) 31.Kc1 32.Kb1 33.Ka1 Kc2# Long systematic manoeuvres have to transport white equihoppers and allow antibattery mates turned around a1-h8 axis. The play was a little bit long and monotonous for me, but I appreciated function exchange between both equihoppers.

ser-h#33 (3+1) PWC 2+0 equihopper b) h4 «-» c1

Karol Mlynka 8th Commendation 29th TT Chess Composition Microweb C 7.7.2011	a) 1.Kh8 2.Rg8 3.d2+! STKh6Q# b) 1.Kh1 2.Rg1 3.Qb6+! STKh3Q# c) 1.Ka1 2.Ra2 3.Qe6+! STKc1Q# Three simple echo mates in three corners. Main reason for distinction is choice of check in the third move, which makes white Queen from supertransmuting king.

ser-h#3 (1+4) supertransmuting king e3 b) g8 -» g1 c) g8 -» a2

Manfred Rittirsch 9th Commendation 29th TT Chess Composition Microweb C 7.7.2011	a) 1.Kb4 2.Kxc5(Sg1) 3.Kc6 4.Kd7 5.Ke6 6.Kf5 7.Kg5 8.Kh4 Sf3# b) 1.Kg5 2.Kf5 3.Kxe5(Bc1) 4.Kd6 5.Kc6 6.Kb5 7.Kb4 8.Kc3 Bd2# I expected this idea - black King plays in one position to square, where it stays in B (and vice versa). Surely some fairy condition for such realisation is needed, but in general this setting is more an illustration of the idea.

ser-h#8 (6+4) Circe b) c3 -» h4

Unto Heinonen 1st Prize StrateGems 1998	1.h1S 2.Sxg3 3.Se4 4.g3 ... 6.g1S 7.Sxe2 8.Sd4 9.e2 10.e1S 11.Sd3 12.Sdc5 Se7# 1.h1B 2.Bf3 3.Bxe2 4.Bc4 5.e2 6.e1B 7.Bxg3 8.Be5 9.g3 ... 11.g1B 12.Bc5 Bb7# Three knight promotions in a), three bishop promotions in b). In FIDE Album 1998-2000 it gained 10 points including 4 from Juraj Lörinc (who else).

ser-h#12 (7+5) b) c4 -» c2

Comments to Juraj Lörinc.
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